Arch and Eddie's- Jackson,Ohio

 Very recently, my grandma had taken my family and me to a place called Arch and Eddie's. Arch and Eddie's used to be called The Colonial, but it recently reopened with this name. This was a special place for my family, because our family has been going there for over 50 years! That's a long time! I had heard of this place many times before, but never actually been to it!

The outside of Arch and Eddie's

Once we got there, I immediately felt welcomed. The place itself has a warm and fuzzy feeling to it, like you were being invited to someone's house for a dinner party! The restaurant was painted a light
creme color, and had many windows, making it not only feel but look like a house, which I found really cool. The inside of the restaurant had walls made of brick painted over with a pastel yellow paint, and tables made of mahogany. There were many rooms within the restaurant, and at first I feared that if I left the table I might get lost! But as we walked to our table, I realized that there were not nearly as many rooms as it had seemed, diminishing whatever fear of getting lost I might have had

Those LEGENDARY mushrooms

 When our party took a seat at the table, I grabbed my menu and began looking over it. On the car ride to the restaurant, I had overheard my dad rave about these fried mushrooms they had, so I knew we had to get an order of those. Boy was my dad right! They were delicious! My favorite thing about them was not that they were fried, but how they were fried. The chef did a fantastic job on these by applying a light batter to the mushrooms, so they were crispy on the outside, but never lost their juice, flavor, or slightly chewy texture on the inside. I am a huge fan of mushrooms, mainly because of their texture and flavor. This dish went way beyond my expectations! After we had finished up FOUR ORDERS of fried mushrooms, we decided that it was time to order our main dish, but only after ordering ANOTHER ORDER OF MUSHROOMS!  I was a little afraid of being too full to eat a main course. I wrestled between between a few things on the menu, and I chose fish and chips. And believe me, I was very, very, very glad with my choice, but

Mmmmm..... Fish and Chips

I'm sure that everything I was thinking about ordering was great! When my food came, I dove right in. The fish was haddock, and the batter was really crispy, a perfect combination! The soft fish was falling apart, and the batter gave the fish a great crunch! The fries were really great as well, with a soft inside and a crisp and crunchy outside. One of my favorite foods is bleu cheese, so I asked the waiter for some bleu cheese dressing, and once I got it, I put it with the fries. Even better! The cheese and the fries went perfectly together! I had a few leftover mushrooms from the appetizer, so I dunked those in the bleu cheese dressing as well. Result: Heaven on a mushroom! I was already pretty full before I got my main course, but soon after getting my fish and chips, I was stuffed. The problem was I couldn't stop eating it, I just felt it was too good to give away.  After I had finished most of my meal, I decided I would take the rest home, because I felt like I was going to burst! Even though I really, really wanted dessert, I decided against it, because I was already stuffed. But if you do get the chance to go there, Dad says the pineapple icebox cake is fabulous!

 Arch and Eddie's was a really great place with great food, great service, and a great atmosphere. If you're in the area, I strongly recommend you stop by for a quick bite! Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being burnt, stale oatmeal raisin nastiness, and ten cookies being perfect, warm, gooey chocolate chip (my favorite) goodness. My Cookie Counter ratings for Arch and Eddie's are:


Food: 9 Cookies
Service: 11 Cookies
Atmosphere: 8 Cookies

Arch and Eddie's Website: http://archandeddies.com

Until next time, keep cooking!

Ristorante Il Latini - Florence, Italy

The crowd outside of Il Latini
(This is only a small part of it) 

This is my first review of a restaurant outside of the United States, and it's for a great place!  My family and I traveled to Italy for two weeks and I wrote about everything on the trip, including the restaurants, in a journal my parents bought for me! Before the trip we were searching the internet for amazing restaurants to go to while on our trip, and my dad stumbled upon Ristorante Il Latini in Florence, Italy. It sounded like a great place online, and everyone in our family became super-duper excited to go to this restaurant - so my dad made reservations for us several months before the trip! During the trip, it was one of the stops my family was looking forward to the most.  For dinner on our second day in Florence we took a cab to the long-awaited Il Latini. The road in front of the restaurant was absolutely PACKED!!! Outside in the street there were way too many people crammed into way too small of a space waiting to get in.  The road actually was not small, but it certainly felt like it.  If you are thinking of going there, make SURE you have a reservation, because if you don't you will NOT get in.  But if you do, you are in for a real treat.

When you walk into Il Latini, the first thing you notice is the ceiling. But this is no ordinary ceiling, no, this is a celling full of hanging hams!!! No, I am not kidding, but there seriously must be at least 50 hams hanging from the ceiling!! My brother absolutely LOVES meat, and we he was really excited!!! One of the things that makes Il Latini so unique is that there is no menu. You get what you get, and I can assure you that you won't be upset. The first course for us was melon with some super-yummy, meaty,  prosciutto. At first I was skeptical about putting fruit and meat together, but once I tried it, I thought it was pretty good! I mean, who would've thought that some fruit and some meat together (A pretty weird combination if you ask me) tasted so good? Not me!! After we finished off the first course, out came the second: toasted bread with chicken liver! When it came out, I didn't know what it was, and my dad told me it was beef, because that's what

My brother and I enjoyed our prosciutto!

it looked like. Little did I know he was kidding and took a big bite. Yuck!! I like almost everything, but liver is one of the few things I don't like. It's really good if you like liver, but if you don't, not so much.  My dad really liked it.  We then had a "tuscan salad" that we all really liked.

When the next course came out, we had three different kinds of pasta - ravioli, penne bolognese and one in particular that caught my eye.  I was told that it was gnocchi with a rabbit sauce. Now, I had never had rabbit meat before, but I was assured that it would be good. However, after my liver experience I wasn't sure, but...they were wrong... It was AMAZING!!! The rabbit was gamey, which was nice, the gnocchi was cooked to perfection (a little crispy, a little soft ), and the warm sauce just brought it all together. In my journal, I described it as "One of the best things I have ever eaten". If that tells you anything, it was pretty darn amazing! So amazing in fact, I stole some of my brother's gnocchi!! After that we had the meat course - a huge plate of meat!   They brought veal, steak, chicken, lamb and pork.  I love steak, but only get it once in a while, and this was excellent!  It was really juicy, and cooked medium rare, just the way I like it! Mmmmmm.......just thinking about all this food is making me hungry!! But seriously, I can promise you that is one of the best steaks you will ever have!

A group picture!
Grandma Carol, Mom, Dad, my brother and me.

On to dessert!! For our final course, we had a platter of different desserts. I wanted the Strawberry Tart, Biscotti, and Chocolate Cake. The desserts came with some warm chocolate sauce that I put around each desert on my plate. To make it fair, we split up all the desserts and we each got a little taste of each one. The strawberry tart was really good, the tart being flaky and crispy, and the filling sweet and fruity.  The biscotti was so good, it was almost as if it had just come out of the oven. It was warm, and had a really great texture to it. The chocolate cake was very rich, and had a chocolate ganache on the top that was exquisite!!

The staff was really great, and they were very impressed when we started having conversations with them in Italian.   We had studied Italian at home before the trip and had a lot of fun talking in Italian with people there.

All in all, this is definitely one of the best meals I have ever eaten, and would go back in a heartbeat. If you happen to be in Florence, and happen to have a reservation for Il Latini, be prepared for the meal of you life!!

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookiness, with 1 cookie being  burnt, old, stale oatmeal raisin nastiness, and 10 cookies being a perfect, warm, gooey chocolate chip (my favorite) goodness. My Cookie Counter ratings for Il Latini are:

Food: 12 Cookies (that's right - 12!)
Atmosphere: 9 Cookies
Service: 9 Cookies

Il Latini's Website: http://www.illatini.com

The Cheesecake Factory-Boca Raton,FL

Those AWESOME Pot Stickers!

Just today, my family and I went out to brunch at The Cheesecake Factory for my grandparent's 50th Anniversary! When we were thinking of a place to go, The Cheesecake Factory came up, and we all decided that it sounded good to us. We got there pretty early, so there weren't many people there. One of the great things about The Cheesecake Factory is that even if it's morning, you can get whatever you want! Knowing that the entire menu was open, I began searching for things that sounded good to me. As I was looking through the menu, something caught my eye - Chicken Pot Stickers!!!! I absolutely love pot stickers, and could probably eat them all day, so I decided to get an order of those. I knew I also wanted pancakes, but there were just so many choices! After a few minutes, I decided to try something new and go with the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. These were pancakes in which lemon zest and ricotta cheese had been mixed in with the batter. My dad got the Bang-Bang chicken and shrimp, my grandma got the Pasta Da Vinci, my brother got the Brunch Combo, my mom got the Asian Salad, my other grandma got an Omelet, and my grandpa got the Baja Chicken Hash.

 

Me and my pancakes!

Before anyone had their entree, we all split the Chicken Pot Stickers. They were even better than I expected! They were very juicy, and crunchy on the outside of the wonton, but soft on the inside! Very good, but the sauce was pretty salty. Soon after we had finished off the Pot Stickers, our entrees were served.  The size of the pancakes was impressive - I felt like they were the size of my head, and there were three of them!!! My pancakes were kind of tangy, but at the same time kind of sweet. They were ok, and after a few bites, I was too full to eat any more. Overall I didn't like them as much as I had hoped.  I also tried my grandma's Pasta Da Vinci. That was really good!! It had mushrooms, chicken, and onions with penne pasta all tossed together in a beautiful Madeira Wine sauce. It was like comfort food, to a degree. It was exquisite!

BEST CHEESECAKE EVER!

     At the end of the meal, although everyone wanted cheesecake, we were all too stuffed to eat it right then, so we decided to take it home. So my grandma and I went up to the big display case that held about 30 different kinds of cheesecake, and after discussing our options, opted for a slice of S'mores Cheesecake, and a whole Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake. Once we got home, we dug in. Like OMG this stuff was THE BEST CHEESECAKE EVER!!! The S'mores cheesecake was my favorite, even though it didn't really taste like cheesecake. It was like a super-rich and super-moist chocolate cake that someone decided would be better with a marshmallow on top! And they were right!! The sugar high was awesome.  For all chocolate fans, this one's a must-get! The Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple cheesecake was really good too, but it didn't come together as nicely as the S'mores did. I really liked the peanut butter frosting on top, and the chocolate went really well with it, but I personally think that it should be a cake, not a cheesecake. I mean, the cheesecake kind of ruined the whole dessert which is really a shame because otherwise, it could have been a super-great dessert.

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one being burnt, stale oatmeal raisin nastiness, and ten being perfect chocolate chip (my favorite) goodness. My Cookie Counter Ratings for Cheesecake Factory are:

Food: 6
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 7.5

Until Next Time, Keep Cooking!

Cheesecake Factory's Website: http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com

Charm City Burgers - Deerfield Beach, FL

That awesome mural!

      Not too long ago, my family and I were out and about and realized that our entire family was hungry. My Dad and brother both wanted burgers, so my family and I went to the best burger place we know in south Florida, Charm City Burgers. The place is kind of small, but with all the awesome decorations, you can't notice any difference! They have this really awesome mural on the wall with their burgers as characters! Once we got to Charm City Burgers, we looked at the menu and were in a pickle of what we should get. My Dad and brother both ordered the Cowboy Style Steak Burger, my Mom got

My dad's Cowboy Style Burger!

The Mobster burger, which had sausage instead of beef, and I decided on the Good Ole Steak Burger. My Mom, Dad, and brother all wanted onion rings with their burgers, but I decided to try the one side we had not tried before - the tater tots. Those tater tots were amazing! They were really crispy on the outside and perfectly soft on the inside. The Cowboy Style burger has bacon, aged cheddar, grilled onions, and sautéed shrooms (mushrooms) The bacon was really crispy, and full of flavor, which made the burger really good! My Mom's Mobster was really superb, and had a great meaty flavor from the sausage topped with peppers, onions, and provolone cheese! My Good Ole was good, with just the meat and the cheese. ( I like the classics)   All of the burgers can come with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles and the house "Charm Sauce" and you can choose between a sesame or whole wheat bun.  My family and I have been to this restaurant a few times.  The other times I went there the burgers were off the chain, but this time we all agreed that the burgers just weren't quite as good.  I'm not sure why, but they just didn't hit the spot like they have on other visits.  That being said, we are still big fans.

This is a great place with inexpensive burgers, and the only complaint I have was that I felt that my burger was just a little bit under-seasoned this visit. My Mom loved her Mobster, and my brother and Dad liked their burgers a lot.  My burger was pretty good and the tater tots were a cool side dish.  This is a great place to go if you just hit a sudden burger crave, or are just looking for some good local food.

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookiness, with one being burnt, stale oatmeal cookie nastiness, and ten being the perfect, gooey chocolate chip (my favorite) goodness.  My Cookie Counter ratings for Charm City Burgers are:

Food: 7.5 Cookies
Atmosphere: 8 Cookies
Service: 9 Cookies

Until next time, Keep cooking!

Charm City Burger's Website: http://www.charmcityburgers.com

Pineapple Grove Art District in Delray Beach, FL - The Grove

A few days ago, my family and I went to this new restaurant called The Grove. It has been open for less than a year but my parents had been there before with friends and wanted to take my brother and me there.  Wow am I happy they did. This was one of the best meals I have ever eaten! When we arrived at The Grove, we were seated down at a table along the wall. The Grove is pretty small, with 8 tables on the inside and a few on the outside, but that combined with the warm decorations and an overall homey feel to the place, I think it suits The Grove well. Their menu changes frequently, so you

The Kitchen!

may not be able to get the same thing every time, but it's a great place to try new things at, because everything is just so delicious! One of the cool things about The Grove is that you can see the kitchen through a large glass wall that is full of wine bottles, allowing you too see the kitchen through the spaces between the huge wall-shelves. Once you sit down, you are brought a platter with some home-made warm brioche on it, and that in itself was mind-blowing!

My amazing portobello soup!

I love mushrooms so once we received our menus, I was in a debate about whether I should get the chantrerelle agnolotti or the portobello soup for my appetizer.  Thankfully my family was going to order appetizers and share them all, so it helped make my decision easier.  My mom and dad each ordered a grilled octopus and my brother wanted the chanterelle agnolotti, so I ordered the portobello soup. Seriously, I could eat that
soup every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. It was like heaven in the form of soup! We were supposed to be sharing our appetizers, but I was very protective of my soup and let everyone have only one or two spoonfuls of it! I couldn't wait to try the grilled octopus, and was amazed to find out that it tasted like bacon! Who knew? My brother's agnolotti was like a light ravioli and was just awesome! The home-made pasta with the chanterelle mushrooms.....so good!!

Mmmmmmm...... Chicken!

When we had finished our appetizers, we ordered our dinner. My dad wanted the brioche-crusted chicken, and my brother and I decided to split one as well.  My mom ordered a local wahoo. As soon as we got our dinner, we were amazed! The plates looked so pretty to the point that I didn't want to eat mine because it was so beautiful! Now, after my big bowl of portobello soup, I didn't feel hungry at all, but after one bite, I couldn't stop eating the chicken! It was crispy on the outside, but really super-tender on the inside. The brioche gave it a great flavor and it came with some corn and goat cheese on top as
well as a little pesto and some gnocchi - YUM!  My mom's fish was really tasty also and filled with flavor!

After our entrees, everyone was stuffed, but because my parents had been raving about the cheese plate, and I love cheese, we decided to all split one. The cheese plate came with toasted bread and three different kinds of cheeses: a Saint Agur bleu cheese, a Brillat-Savarin creamy french cheese, and a Piedmont mixed cheese. The french cheese was really creamy, smooth, and melted on your tongue. The bleu cheese was very good, and the Piedmont mixed cheese was awesome!  My favorite cheese was the Piedmont.

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one being burnt, stale oatmeal cookie nastiness, and ten being perfect chocolate chip (my favorite) goodness. My Cookie Counter ratings for The Grove are:

Food: 10 cookies
Atmosphere: 10 cookies
Service: 10 cookies

I rated The Grove this high because it is just that good. Like seriously, you should stop whatever you are doing, get in your car, and go to The Grove!! Until next time, keep cooking!

The Grove's Website: http://thegrovedelray.com/home/

Boca Raton Florida- Rocco's Tacos

There are a lot of great mexican cuisine restaurants out there, but in my personal experience, this is one of the best. Not only is their entire menu great, but there is one thing in particular that I would go back every day for. Can you guess what it is? It's their guacamole! I will admit, their salsa is pretty good too, but this guacamole just blows anyone's idea of good guacamole right out of the deep blue sea! Anyone who says that a different guacamole is better has obviously never been to the right place. It's that simple! I had a day off from school recently, so my family and I decided that since we hadn't been to Rocco's Tacos in a while, we should go!

One of the great things about Rocco's is that there is an inside seating area as well as an outside one, which is really convenient depending on the weather!  We sit outside most of the time and did so this trip.  As soon as you sit down to your table, a waiter comes up to your table, introduces themselves, then asks you what you would like to drink. Once you receive your drinks, your waiter asks you if you
would like chips and salsa or guacamole or both. My family always gets both because we love the guacamole so much, but it tastes even better if you mix it with a little salsa! One of my favorite things at Rocco's is when they make their guacamole. After you order your bowl of heavenly guacamole, a server rolls up to your table with the guacamole cart, and begins to make the delightful guacamole fresh, on the spot. I know that the guacamole has avocado, cilantro, lime, onions, and tomatoes in it. I also know that they mix in their secret Rocco's Tacos spice that they also put on their chips. I think that the secret spice is made up of salt, chili powder, and a little bit of paprika, but if you have any ideas, tell me in the comments below!

My Enchiladas! 

After you have received your chips and guacamole, you can have a little bit of time to look over the menu or order right away if you were already looking at it. Rocco's regular menu has a lot of great items on it, but the kid's menu does not. There are only four choices on the kid's menu, and only one item is mexican related; the cheese quesadillas. Although the kid's menu is limited, the adult menu is quite extensive. As I was looking over the menu (the adult menu, after I gave back the kid's one) the enchiladas stood out to me. I decided on a pulled chicken enchilada with melted cheese and a green tomato sauce. The enchiladas also came with a side of refried beans and a side of rice. My brother ordered the exact same thing but with a red tomato sauce, and my parents ordered California fish tacos. The California fish tacos were different from regular fish tacos

The California Fish Tacos

because they contained not only the fish but also cabbage, golden raisins, thinly sliced jalapeño, and fresh pineapple. Everything looked amazing! My enchiladas were exquisite, and the chicken was perfectly seasoned. My only complaint is that the rice was pretty spicy. The fish tacos were a cross between sweet and spicy, but were excellent, and that explains the reason we order them every time we go! This is a good place to go if you are looking for some great mexican food and a good atmosphere. There aren't a lot of decorations, but there are bikes hanging from the ceiling, which I thought was pretty cool!

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter scale of Cookieness, with 10 cookies being perfect chocolate chip(my favorite) goodness, and 1 cookie being a burnt, old, stale oatmeal raisin nastiness. My Cookie Counter ratings for Rocco's Tacos are:

Food: 9 Cookies

Atmosphere: 7 Cookies

Service: 8 Cookies

Rocco's Tacos Website: http://www.roccostacos.com/

Cookie's Culinary Adventures-Baking for Days!

Over the long Labor Day weekend, my mom and I realized that we were running low on home-made cookies, and in our family, this is a DISASTER! My entire family loves home-made cookies and treats!!  Since it was a long weekend, we decided it was the perfect time to bake and restock with some  yummy and delicious treats.

Because my mom and I were the only ones baking, we got to choose what we wanted to make. I wanted to make church windows, which are mini colored marshmallows covered in chocolate and walnuts. What I love about these treats is that when you cut into them, you see all the different colors of the marshmallows, and it resembles a "church window"! If you like coconut, you can be sprinkle some on the top of them before you put them in the refrigerator. These are one of my favorite cookies that my mom and I make!
We also wanted to make my mom's famous brownies(Recipe Below), and those things, I swear make magic happen! The brownies are so rich, and so chocolatey, I can't even bear to sit hear and think about them without having to go get one. When we were making them, I had forgotten to turn off the mixer and accidentally took it out of the bowl without noticing that I hadn't turned it off. All of the sudden, there was brownie batter EVERYWHERE! My mom and I were lucky enough to be able to dodge the brownie batter, but sadly, our cabinets couldn't move out of the way! We spent quite a bit of time cleaning the cabinets and the countertop.
After the church windows had cooled in the fridge and the brownies were out of the oven, I decided I  wanted to keep baking and making new sweets for my family.  I pulled out a few cookbooks and got to work. I found two recipes that I wanted to create. One was a recipe for the treats called "cherry bombs".  These are pretty easy to make and taste amazing. All you have to do is mix up 1 1/2 cups of dried cherries and 1 1/2 cups of chopped walnuts, then melt some dark chocolate, mix it all together, spread on a baking sheet, and pop them in the fridge! Since those were super easy to make, and not very time-consuming, we decided to make those first! As soon as we were done, I told my mom that I wanted to make a cake. At first she said no. Then I told her I would do it in small cake pans,  so we'd have several small individual cakes
 instead of one big cake, and she agreed. So we set out to work on what would soon become a masterpiece, and I was sure we could do it! I was as right as my right hand! WE DID IT! I decided that I wanted to use my piping bag and tips to decorate the mini cakes I made.  I knew that I wanted to use chocolate frosting, so I opted for a vanilla cake so that you could see the frosting. After a while, we had finished the cake, and I began to decorate! I had ten mini-cakes, and I took my time icing each and every one. Once I was finished, I was really satisfied with what I did!

The Best Brownies in THE WORLD!